nuclear war  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending December Membership Trial Vote

Rob Hassard, NJ

2009 Champion

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Event History
2008    Blair Morgen     25
2009    Rob Hassard     24
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Rob Hassard        NJ    09     20
  2.  Blair Morgen       NJ    08     20
  3.  Scott Beall        OR    09     18
  4.  Greg M. Smith      PA    09     12
  5.  Bill Peeck         NY    09     12
  6.  Mike Lam           CA    09      8
  7.  David Weinstein    NY    08      6
  8.  Paul Camina        NJ    08      4
  9.  Jack Beckman       MI    09      2
 10.  Gary Sheafers      PA    08      2

2009 Laurelists                                           Repeating Laurelists:

Greg Smith, PA
2nd

Mike Lam, CA
3rd

Scott Beall, OR
4th

Bill Peeck, NY
5th

Jack Beckman, MI
6th


Past Champions

Blair Morgen, NJ
2008

Rob Hassard, NJ
2009

These folks seem jolly enough given the subject manner.
One has to enjoy Gallows humor to appreciate Nuclear War.

Back in 1972 at the first Origins convention there were 13 events.
Nuclear War
was one of them. A classic returns.

War Without Victory ...

The Nuclear War tournament was noteworthy for its comings and goings this year. The game works best with six players at a table. We started with 18 players and exactly three tables. I planned on playing four rounds - all players play all rounds with points awarded for each round. (Thus a player can miss early rounds and join in late without any advantage - he has missed the opportunity to gain points in the early rounds.) One more player appeared during the first round, and I figured I'd have to have one table of seven, but after the round was over, one player decided he needed to be somewhere else, and left. So we still had 18. Then during the second round another player came, but again after the round, someone said he wanted to go play in another tournament, so we still had 18. And during the third round TWO more people appeared, and exactly two people decided to leave before the fourth round. So we had 18 in each round the hard way proving once again the folly of plans of mice and men.

There were more beginners in this tournament than I think I've ever seen in a Nuclear War tournament before. One of those beginners, Manuel, eliminated his entire table (including himself) in the first round by hitting "triple yield" with a 100-megaton bomb! As a matter of fact, two of the three tables in the first round ended with no winner.

During the first three rounds, Mike Lam eliminated three other players peacefully (i.e. with propaganda) - only to be eliminated in the fourth round the same way. What comes around, goes around.

During the final round, Bill Peeck fired a polaris missile with a ten megaton warhead at another player. The victim had an anti missile that would stop it, or a bigger missile, and he didn't want to waste it when he might need that anti-missile later during final retaliation. After all, the maximum it could kill was 12 million, and that was very unlikely. The average killed with a 10-megaton bomb is about three million. Bill spun the "plus ten" for twelve million dead. Shortly after that, Bill had another 10-megaton bomb and the very same thing happened. As a matter of fact, he did that four times in a row, and the victim never did get to use that anti-missile he had been saving!

Rick will not be able to attend WBC next year due to the Gen Con conflict so if this event is to return it will need both member support in the December vote and a new GM.

 GM      Rick Loomis (2nd Year)  NA  
    rick@flyingbuffalo.com   NA

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